Taking a flight with a musical instrument can be nerve-racking. We see and hear horror stories of people placing instruments in regular cases into aircraft holds and getting damaged instruments back at the other end on a regular basis. Even if you’ve had it flight-cased there’s still a risk it could be lost.
Japan Airlines (JAL) has been loaning musicians protective cases for their instruments for some time now but they’ve been too small (violin/viola size) or too large (double bass size) for guitars to fit comfortably. A little while ago, though, they started lending musicians protective boxes that fit the majority of acoustic, classical, or bass guitars; even in their cases.
We think this is a great initiative. Especially for those musicians who don’t travel frequently enough to justify investing in a flight case. Now all we need is for other airlines to follow their example.
Please note that if you want to take advantage of JAL’s flight boxes for instruments they advise you call in advance due to the limited numbers available.